Remains found under NC billboard in 1998 identified as 10-year-old boy

MEBANE, N.C. - Police say they've identified the remains of a little boy whose body was dumped on the side of the road under a billboard in Mebane, NC.

The child’s skeletal remains were found back in 1998.

Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood told news outlets Tuesday that the child was 10-year-old Robert “Bobby” Adam Whitt, who was born in Michigan and raised in Ohio. Officials say they believe the same person who killed Bobby also murdered his mother.

Last year, the consultant who helped solve the Golden State Killer case, Barbara Rae-Venter, used DNA to determine the child was half-Asian and half-white. The break came when officials tested the remains and found a match thanks to a relative who had done an at home DNA case.

That relative disclosed Bobby’s name, saying family assumed his mother took him to South Korea.

Investigators were also able to link the DNA to a woman who they've identified as Bobby's mother Myoung Hwa Cho. Her body was found in Spartanburg County also back in 1998.

Officials say Bobby's father is a suspect in both of the killings. They have yet to release his name, but say he is already serving a long-term sentence on unrelated charges.